Safety-lock for guns.



G. E. H-EUKMAN.

SAFETY LOOK FOR GUNS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1909.

Patented July 12, 1910 1 2 8HEETSSHBET 1.

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APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1909. 964,258., Patented July 12, 1910.

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GEORGE E. HECKMAN, 0F GIT-AW, TEXAS.

SAFETY-LOCK FOR GUNS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. HEGKMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Gipaw, 'in the county of Hall, State of Texas, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in. Safety-Locks for Guns; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to air guns and particularly in the provision ofa safety lock for holding the trigger thereof against movement torelease the spring pressed plunger until the lever arm by which thecompression of said plunger is had is removed from the path of travel ofsaid plunger when released.

To this end the invention consists in providing a spring pressed catchadapted to engage a lug on the trigger to hold said trigger against arearward or releasing movement and in further providing on the handleportion of the lever which compresses the plunger means adapted toengage said latch to release the trigger When said lever has been movedentirely out of the path of travel of the spring pressed plunger whensame is released.

In describing the invention in detail reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings in which like characters of ref erence denotecorresponding parts in the several views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a fragment of an air gun with theinvention incorporated; a part of the casing which contains the triggermechanism and a portion of the spring pressed plunger being broken away;Fig. 2, a view similar to Fig. 1, looking from the opposite side of thegun, one side of the casing being removed and the parts being shown inthe position occupied at the termination of the cooking movement; Fig.8, a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1 looking toward the rear of thegun; Fig. 4., a section on the line 4% of Fig. 2 looking toward the rearof the gun; Fig. 5, a detail perspective view of the safety latch, and,Fig. 6, a detail perspective view of the trigger.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the stock of the gun having thecustomary formation, 2 the casing which contains the trigger mechanism,a portion of the spring Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 20, 1909.

Patented July 12, 1910. Serial No. 518,499.

pressed plunger and the safety lock and 3 the barrel of the gun; saidcasing 2 being suitably secured at opposite ends to the stock 1 and thebarrel 3 respectively. The barrel 3 has a forward extension 4: attachedthereto, the rear end of said extension having a perforated diaphragm 5therein. lVithin the barrel extension 4 is suitably mounted a tube 6.This tube is provided with an opening near the rear end thereof asindicated at 7 and forms the firing tube of the gun. Above the firingtube is located a magazine tube 20 provided with an opening 21communicating with the tube 6.

Below the barrel 3 is secured a cylinder 8 wherein is held a spring 9.Vithin the easing 2 is pivoted a trigger 10 the free end of whichprojects through a slot 11 in the casing and a spring 12 normally holdsthe trigger in engaging position. Slidable in the barrel 8 is a plunger13 provided with a head 14 which closely fits the barrel and has asuitable packing 15 to provide an airtight engagement between the barreland said head. The end of this plunger extends within the casing 2 andis provided with a slot 16 through which projects the upper end of thelever 24 and wherein is mounted a roller 17 which is adapted to beengaged by the rear face of the lever and serves as an anti-frictionbearing. The plunger 13 is provided with a notch 18 to form a shoulderadapted for engagement with the sear 19 of the trigger and has arearwardly extending end 22 which forms a guide to keep the plunger inproper alinement with the barrel 3. A compression spring 28 is mountedin the barrel 3 and has one end bearing against the head of the plungerand the other end thereof against a shoulder (not shown) formed in thecasing 2. A lever 24: is pivoted to the casing and projects through thebottom thereof, said lever being formed with a handle portion 25normally resting against the under side of the stock and a reduced end26 which extends up in the slot of the plunger and bears against theroller mounted therein. This lever is further provided with a slot 26wherein is pivoted a rod 27 having an enlarged end 28' which bearsagainst the end of the spring 9. This rod 27 is so arranged that thespring 9 normally forces the handle portion of the le ver against theunder side of the stock.

It will be noted that the operating lever and the plunger pivotedthereto are so arranged that when the operating lever is in the positionfor firing the pivot of the plunger lies below the pivot of the leverwhile in the charging the positions of these pivots are reversed. Itwill thus be obvious that when the handle of the operating lever ismoved against the stock the spring 9 through the medium of the rod 27will serve to hold the handle in that position.

Pivoted to one side of the casing 2 is a latch 29 and a spring 29mounted above said latch on the side of the casing which constantlytends to force the free end of said latch downward. On the under face ofsaid latch near the free end thereof is formed a notch 30 which isadapted to engage the transversely disposed lug 31 on the trigger tohold said trigger against rearward movement. In order to make theengagement between the latch and the trigger more positive a pivotedpawl 32 has its free end pressing in a notch 33 formed in the upper faceof the latch and a spring 34 constantly tends to force said pawl andlatch downwardly. Secured to a portion of the lever handle situatedwithout the casing 2 is a contact finger 35 which is adapted to passthrough a slot 36 in the bottom of the casing and bear against the underside of the latch 29 when the handle 25 is disposed against the stock 1.In all other positions of the handle 25 the contact finger 35 is withoutinfluence on the latch 29.

The operation of the safety lock just described will be obvious. Whenthe parts of the gun are in the position they occupy at the terminationof the cooking movement, as is illustrated in Fig. 2, it will be seenthat if the trigger 10 were prematurely moved and the plunger 13released it would result in the lever arm 24 being moved forward withgreat force and produce a corresponding movement in the handle 25 ofsaid lever arm with possible injury resulting to the hand of theoperator. By reason of the safety look just described, however, such apremature movement of the trigger would be impossible as the contactfinger 35 would not be in engagement with the latch 29, and the latchwould be pressed down into interlocking engagement with the lug 31 ofthe trigger through the medium of the spring 29. hen the handle 25,however, is moved into contact with the stock 1 the contact finger 35will raise the latch 29 and release same from engagement with thetrigger so that the latter may be pulled at the will of the operator.

While I have shown the particular form of safety look as applied to anair gun it will be obvious that same may be applied to any gun whichutilizes a pivoted lever to effect the cocking thereof.

It will be noted that in order to remove the pawl 32 from the notch 33to permit raising thereof by the contact finger 35 the latch 29 isprovided with a recess 37 in one side thereof, while said contact finger35 is provided with an upwardly extending offset portion 35 adapted topass between the walls of said recess and engage and raise the pawl 32prior to the engagement of latch 29 by the contact finger.

What is claimed is 1. The combination with a gun, of a firing mechanism,a lever for moving said firing mechanism to active position, a triggerfor engaging and holding said mechanism in active position, a pivotedlatch adapted to engage said trigger to hold same against movement torelease said firing mechanism during the movements of said lever, a pawlengaging said latch to positively lock same against dis-engagement fromthe trigger, and a contact finger adapted to successively engage andmove said pawl from engagement with the latch and said latch fromengagement with the trigger as the lever is moved to normal position.

2. The combination with a gun, of a firing mechanism, a lever for movingsaid firing mechanism to active position and normally disposed againstthe stock of the gun, a trigger for engaging and holding said mechanismin active position, a pivoted latch adapted to engage said trigger tohold same against movement to release said firing mechanism when saidlever has been actuated to move the firing mechanism to active position,said latch having a side face pro- 100 vided with a recess, a pawldisposed across said recess above said latch and engaging the latter topositively lock same against disengagement from the trigger and a contact finger carried by the lever having a 105 reduced upper portionforming a shoulder intermediate the ends of said finger, said reducedportion being adapted to pass through the recess in the latch to engageand release the pawl from engagement with 110 the latch and saidshoulder being adapted to subsequently engage and move the latch fromengagement with the trigger as the lever is moved to normal position.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signa- 115 ture, in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE E. HECKMAN.

Witnesses:

J. B. MOCLELLAND, WV. U. HOLMES.

